Inexplicably Bound
by EternalFlameinDarkness
Summary: DMHP SLASH. Draco wakes up one night to hear screaming outside his house. The explanation he gets from his mother isn't what he expected. And then things go from Bad to worse.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first fic so please, be kind. Obviously, I own none of the current characters and only one character in the story. You'll see who it is later! The characters, names, places and spells of the world of Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling, Warner Brothers, Bloomsbury Books and probably 101 other people that I haven't mentioned. I own nothing. Nada. Zip.

In the first few chapters I've tried to make characters as true to Ms Rowling's creation as is humanely possible. However, as this fic is going to contain romance between Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter, their characters will change. This is, unfortunately, unavoidable.

Warning: The following fic contains SLASH. If you are dead against SLASH and hate to see Ms Rowling's characters mutilated in this way then please reacquaint yourself with the furthest button on the right of your browser window. Back button, meet non-SLASH fan. Non-SLASH fan, meet the back button. Click on him any time you are utterly disgusted…or now as I really don't want any flames. Thank you.

A/N: All the story is taken from Draco's point of view unless otherwise stated at any point. Thanks to my best friend DM, for all her support and for sending me towards some of the greatest SLASH fics around. Luv ya mate!

And now on with the story.

* * *

I opened my eyes blearily, looking around the room hurriedly. My eyes alighted briefly on the clock on the wall and I groaned inwardly as I realised that it was just after midnight. I needed my beauty sleep. It was impossible for someone to look as good as I did without getting at least eight hours of sleep a night. Plus, without eight hours of sleep, I get cranky. And when I get cranky _everyone_ knows about it. I make sure of it. I'm a Malfoy. It's what we do.

What the hell had woken me up? I looked around the room more, my eyes darting to the shadows in the four corners of the room. I heard the noise that had obviously shaken me from a pleasant dream. Not the sort of dream an ordinary wizard would find pleasant but a Malfoy sort of dream. The sort of dream where you're watching everything from above, watching as the events unfold. In this particular dream Professor Snape was berating the Mudblood girl for answering back in class. A smile curved my lips as I remembered the dream and then the noise pierced my semi-conscious state, bringing me back with a sharp thud to the present. The noise seemed to come from outside, a hideous keening wail that in some ways reminded me of the Veela from the World Cup and in other ways sounded like the scream of a dragon when it's young had been stolen from it. The noise sounded ungodly and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm no wimp…I'm no Longbottom, by any stretch of the imagination. I don't quiver and quake at the thought of Professor Snape giving me a detention. I don't act like a godforsaken fool every time the name Voldemort is mentioned. I flinch, yes, but only when someone unworthy of the name 'wizard' says his name.

It's actually incredibly difficult to scare me, but even I can admit that I was, in part, at least a little afraid for my safety after hearing that noise. My hand reached to the back of my neck, rubbing gently in an attempt to assuage the prickling that had started after the scream had come again. Just as I had decided that the screaming had stopped and had turned round, intending to go back to bed (well, for all I knew it could be some of my father's friends torturing Muggles and I didn't want to get in their way) when the noise came again.

A second piercing scream came from outside Malfoy Manor and I ran to the window, my heart beating erratically as I looked out. My eyes scanned the horizon, attempting to pick out something abnormal. I stared long and hard to the west. The stones of Stonehenge loomed out of the darkness. At any other time I would not have been able to see the mysterious stones, but tonight was different. Tonight an unearthly, or mayhap otherworldly, green light appeared to be radiating off the stones, pulsing like a heartbeat. In the centre of the circle of stones stood a woman dressed only in a white nightdress, illuminated by the green glow, her head thrown back as she screamed again. This time I was able to pick up on what had been said. A single word pierced the night air, reverberating around me, seeming to echo from all sides. I raised my hands to my ears in an attempt to block out the sound but it continued to echo inside my head, breaking through the barrier of my hands.

"Lyra!"

I reached the bedside table in two quick strides and picked up my wand, pointing at himself briefly as I cast a Temporary Deafness Charm on myself. I had first learnt it at the beginning of the summer after my mother's wailing for Lucius had become too much and I had needed some way to be able to fall asleep. She had finally stopped wailing earlier that week after she had received an owl from a friend of his, informing her the all was going to plan and she would be ok. I only knew because, after my mother had expressly forbidden me to read the letter it became all the more important and interesting that I should do so. So I had. I walked back to the window, glad of the reprieve from the repulsive screaming of the woman outside, and looked out of the window towards Stonehenge. The woman had moved since I had last looked and now threw her head up to the stars, having been facing the Manor. It was only then that I realised that the woman, in her near-naked state was my own mother. I had never heard mother make such an ungodly noise. I had heard her scream, I had heard her cry, I regularly heard her in fits of rage and I had once, a long time ago and I hope never in all my days hear it again, heard the noises my mother made when she was talking to herself. But I had never in all my fifteen and a half years heard her scream and wail and have a fit of rage all in one go. Her vocal capacities still astounded me, even as I was ever so slightly terrified of the noise that had reverberated around my head since I had first awoken that night.

I sighed to myself and headed back to my bed, placing my wand back on the bedside table and closing my eyes. I was exhausted and about ready to fall asleep. My mind however decided it didn't like that idea and started asking me questions to which I didn't know the answer. I fell asleep in the very early hours of the morning, my mind still reverberating with the noise my mother had made and the unanswerable questions.

Why was she screaming? Why was she so desperately miserable? And who, or what, was Lyra?


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, I awoke to a world of silence, surprised not to hear my mother screaming at me for being so late up. Surprised that was, until I remembered the events of the night before. I sat up, blinking my eyes and reached for my wand, removing the Temporary Deafness Charm, only to wish I hadn't bothered.

"…DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME? GET UP YOU LAZY BRAT AND COME DOWN HERE NOW IF YOU WANT SOME BREAKFAST! IF YOUR FATHER WAS HERE HE'D MAKE YOU EAT YOUR BREAKFAST COLD! AND IF YOU **DARE** SAY THAT YOU DON'T WANT ANY BREAKFAST I WILL COME UP THERE AND BEAT YOU UNTIL YOU ARE UNABLE TO EAT ANYTHING FOR MONTHS! DO YOU HEAR ME UP THERE DRACO? GET DOWN HERE NOW! YOU UNGRATEFUL INSOLENT BASTARD! GET DOWN THESE STAIRS **NOW**!" I had always been in awe of my mother, not least for the fact that she could scream an absolute tirade of abuse and threats without taking a single breath and not be breathless at the end of it. And I had never known my mother to use the Sonorus charm. The voice was all her own.

I hurriedly got dressed, not bothering to have a shower before breakfast. I could quite easily have a shower later. If, that was, Narcissa would let me. I brushed my fingers through my hair and walked out of my bedroom, closing the door quietly behind me. I didn't need a brand new lecture on closing doors. I walked down the stairs and stopped on the first landing, coming face to face with my mother in all her fury. She scowled at me and said, "Decided to come down have you? It's about time too!" Her top lip curled into the Malfoy sneer, which she had spent many years perfecting. I nodded and whispered my apologies. Narcissa seemed placated and we walked into the dining room together, sitting at opposite ends of the moderately sized dining table. The fire was not burning this morning but the room was plenty warm enough. It was, after all, the middle of summer.

I looked at up from my meal and glanced towards my mother. She stared fixedly at her plate, barely eating and I sighed to myself softly. I looked at the Malfoy crest above the fireplace, gaining strength from it's motto. The crest itself was a shield split into four, crossed wands in the top left and bottom right hand corners and green and silver stripes in the remaining two corners, the letter M in black in the centre of the shield. "Nil Desperandum in Extremis." I muttered to myself, reading the motto at the bottom of the shield. I would have laughed aloud at getting comfort from that particular phrase, were it not exactly how I felt. _Despair of nothing at the point of death._

"Did you sleep well last night mother?" _That wasn't what I meant to say._

"Fine. What about you?" Narcissa looked like she was smiling but her eyes flickered and I knew that she was lying.

"Not particularly. I heard all this God awful screaming last night. I'm surprised it didn't wake you up." My mouth curled into a sneer as my mother started to open and close her mouth, looking like a rather unattractive goldfish. _Not that goldfish are ever particularly attractive…_ "I saw you on the plains last night mother. Over by the stones. I heard you. I heard what you screamed. What's going on? I deserve to know mother." Narcissa swallowed convulsively. Another sure sign she was lying.

"Finish your breakfast Draco. I'll explain everything then." She lowered her eyes and continued to eat her porridge oats. I would have groaned but the way that I had defeated her into telling me so easily made me wary. Obviously this was something big otherwise mother would never have deigned to tell me anything unless she felt it absolutely pertinent. I finished my breakfast in record time, doubting that even Crabbe and Goyle could have eaten as fast as I had. "Go upstairs and have a shower Draco. Don't worry, I'll still be here when you come down. Get into your walking robes. We're going to the stones." Mother gave me a weak smile as I rose from my seat, running upstairs in the hope of getting ready as quickly as possible. Luckily, I was used to quick showers and even quicker changes. It came from being a Slytherin. It came from having been walked in on just once wearing nothing but a smile, which had quickly vanished, being turned into a look of pure mortification on my part and a fit of giggles on Pansy Parkinson's. Bloody stupid witch.

I ran down the stairs and skidded to a halt in front of my mother. She had changed into a simple black set of robes with red trim and the same weak watery smile was still firmly placed on her lips.

"Well, let's get going then." She attempted a smile which wavered and disappeared as she turned away from me, heading towards the circle of stones.

Most people know what Stonehenge is. Most people know the background behind it. At least, they think they do. I had always thought I did until I saw it that day. I had never been allowed into the centre of the ring. Mother had always banned me from entering. I always listened to mother. You didn't get to the age of five in the Malfoy household without knowing that you listen to your parents. Or else.

As we stepped through the ring of stones I felt an odd sensation, almost like walking through treacle. The stones appeared to shift slightly, almost as if the whole world had decided to move and then changed its mind. It was odd really. There was no other way to describe it, unless I wanted to sound like a frigging walking Thesaurus. Or, of course, like the Mudblood.

I looked around the stones and realised that they all had words engraved into them. This was just a clock, why would there be words engraved on the stones? I walked to the nearest stones and took a step back. The words were names. Not just any names, but Malfoy names. All the stones had names and dates written on them. I felt the blood rush from my face at the same time as I felt my heart plummet to the pit of my stomach. Stonehenge wasn't just an olden day Druid clock…it was a graveyard. My head swirled and I felt myself begin to slip to the floor as I saw the name and date scratched roughly on the central stone.

Lyra Nightshade Malfoy. 13th January 1980 – 30th July 1980.

I felt my head hit the ground at the same time as the words and their meaning registered on my brain. I had a twin.


	3. Chapter 3

My eyelids fluttered open and I groaned softly to myself, looking up at the canopy above my bed. I had hoped that it had all been a dream but the pounding in my skull and the blood I could taste in my mouth made me believe that I was probably wrong. My head felt fuzzy, as if I couldn't remember everything I was supposed to remember. I closed my eyes again, wishing I could remember why my reaction had been what it was. It was then that I felt the dark consume me again as I remembered. I had a twin.

I opened my eyes again, unsure of how long I had been unconscious. I looked at the clock, barely moving in case my head fell off. I know I'm just being melodramatic but that's what it felt like. It was hell. It was worse than being stuck in Professor Trelawney's room for an hour. I knew that I had been heading towards the stones at half past ten. Even taking into account the walk to the stones it could only have been 11 o'clock when I had passed out. My eyes flicked to the clock and I barely registered that it was half past three before I heard a soft tap come at my door.

"Come in." My voice was croaky and I was unsure if my visitor would have heard me through the thick oak of the door. Luck, it seemed was on my side. The door opened and my mother stood there, looking slightly sheepish as she came to sit beside the bed.

"How're you feeling Draco?" She smiled at me and I closed my eyes briefly, groaning slightly at the inanity of her question.

"How do you think I'm feeling? I've just found out that I've got a twin sister that I knew nothing about and promptly passed out and hit my head on a dirty great rock on the way to the ground!" I opened my eyes and scowled at her.

"I guess I deserved that. But before I tell you the whole story, I just want to let you know that it was your father's idea not to tell you. Not mine. I swear, if I'd had my way, you would have known from the beginning.

"Well, I didn't know. But I'm going to now. I'm sixteen years old. I need to know." I looked into my mother's eyes and saw so much pain visible therein that I almost repented and told her it didn't matter. But I would have been lying. It did matter.

"You're right. You do deserve to know."

I watched as she closed her eyes briefly and knew that she was shutting out the pain the only way she knew how, by blocking everyone out. Her eyes opened again and the pain that had been there before was gone. While my mother was still talking to me, I didn't really exist. Nothing at the present time really existed. She was back in the past.

"You're right Draco. You are a twin. Lyra was younger than you by six minutes. You were both so beautiful, so perfectly formed. Lyra had dark tufts of hair from the first day she was born. You were as bald as an old man. Her eyes were blue, with flecks of green. Your father and I were so happy. We had thought we'd never be able to have children. We'd been trying for three years before you came along. We were so happy." Mother smiled weakly and then continued.

"Now we had a little boy to carry on the Malfoy name and a little girl to keep our little boy company. And Lyra was so sweet tempered. She gurgled and laughed, while you were perfecting the Malfoy scowl. She would sleep peacefully every night. She fed as if there was no tomorrow." Mother's eyes began to water and her voice started to shake.

"Then at six months, while you were lying on your stomach wriggling like you wanted to crawl, Lyra couldn't even roll over. We tried so hard to make her roll over, but she just couldn't do it. And when we lay her on her front, she'd just lie there and scream. Our little angel would scream and nothing would stop her. We didn't know what to do. We took her to a doctor and he said that there seemed to be a problem but he couldn't tell what. 'Maybe she's just a late developer' he said. We believed him. Would that we hadn't. She didn't sleep that night, so we took her back to the doctor's for tests. The doctor couldn't find anything wrong. Three days later, she had hardly slept. We didn't understand what was going wrong. We went to another doctor, in the hope that he could find what was wrong. All he could tell us was that she appeared to have a lump on the back of her head, like she'd bumped it or something." Mother looked at me and sighed."

"He said maybe that was the reason she was ratty, maybe that was the reason she kept crying. We didn't know any better and just let her scream. We'd take it in turns to look after her, so that both of us could get our sleep. Your dad was working hard for the Dark Lord and I had another baby to look after as well as Lyra. I needed my sleep, as much as you did. We moved you into a room down the hall from ours and used a baby monitor in your room. Lyra still slept in the room with us. You started sleeping properly again. And then, three weeks after the screaming had started she fell asleep. There was no more snuffling noises, no more waking up. We thought everything was ok."

I saw the tears shimmering in my Mother's eyes, watched as they fell unheeded down her cheeks. The Malfoy's don't cry. Ever. But Narcissa was, sitting on the side of my bed. I reached out my hand and squeezed hers gently. She squeezed back and continued softly. "We woke up in the morning to hear you screaming, a horrible screeching wail. Maybe if we'd understood what was wrong with you we could have saved Lyra. But your father and I didn't know. We both came to you, briefly glancing into Lyra's crib. She looked so peaceful. She was still sleeping, or so we thought. You wouldn't stop screaming. I tried to feed you but you wouldn't feed. We walked you up and down your room and nothing would stop you screaming. It wasn't that you were crying. There were no tears. You were screaming like you were in pain, but we could see no reason for you to be acting like that. Eventually, your Dad suggested that we could take you into our room for a little while, thought maybe you were bored of your surroundings. We stepped over the threshold of the room and you stopped screaming. The second you were in our room, the screaming stopped. We took you out of the room and you screamed again." She sucked in a breath, shivering slightly.

"So we went back into the room and you stopped mid-scream. I jokingly said that maybe you just wanted to be close to your sister. So your Dad reached into the cot to pick her up. She didn't wake up. She was already cold, her lips were blue. She had been dead for maybe an hour. The coroner said that she died of cot-death, said that it had probably happened at almost the same time you had started screaming. We had just walked her, dismissed her as sleeping. The funeral was brief, a single hymn and a white rose placed on her coffin as she was buried in the family burial plot, underneath Stonehenge. She was my little girl, my tiny baby and I hadn't managed to save her. My little girl had died while I had been in the same room, mere feet from where she lay in the cot. I had been asleep while she died. I should have known something was wrong. I should have known that she was dying. I should have known but I didn't." Mother's eyes filled with tears and she shook horribly. I squeezed her hand again and she continued to pick at threads on my coverlet.

"Every year, on the anniversary of the day she died, I go to sit at her grave. I sit for hours on end crying, wishing she could come back, wishing I could have saved her. I call her name to the only person that will listen. God listens to me. Your father refuses to admit she ever existed. He stood at her grave the day she was buried and didn't shed a single tear. We came back here and I walked upstairs, sobbing and all your father said was 'Come now Narcissa. It doesn't do for a Malfoy to be seen crying.' I'm not made of stone. I'd just buried my baby. Seven months after I'd given birth to her. We had a wake after the funeral but I didn't go." Mother paused again as the sobs began to choke her. She sucked in a deep breath and then continued.

"Your father was excused from the Dark Lord's service that night but he went out and tortured Muggles while I stayed at home, holding you in my arms, sobbing my heart out. The house elves didn't dare approach me. I screamed at them every time they suggested putting you to bed. I didn't sleep for the rest of the month, held you in my arms all night long, watching you to make sure that you would be ok. I watched you breathe, just to make sure that you were still alive. I refused to let you go all day and all night. I didn't let go at all. I didn't dare. I didn't want to lose you as well." My mother stared at the bed sheet, refusing to meet my eyes, still holding my hand as the tears that she hadn't dared to shed in front of my father fell, sixteen years of pain reflected in her eyes. I squeezed her hand tight, and didn't say a word.

I shifted so that I was sitting on my mother's lap, the way I remembered doing as a child. I put my arms around her neck and she slid her arms around me, holding me close as she buried her head in my neck, the tears still falling. It may not do for a Malfoy to cry, but it doesn't do for a human being to be allowed to suffer. I held her close as the sobs started to subside and she started to hiccup.

Malfoy's are always right. That's what my father always told me. Malfoy's always do what's right. It was at that moment that I truly realised that my father was wrong. Malfoy's make mistakes. And my father's greatest mistake was to tell my mother that Malfoy's didn't cry. Malfoy's do cry.

And there were two Malfoys that cried that day.


	4. Chapter 4

Nothing much happened the rest of the day. I was glad of the respite from the raring emotions of the day. July 31st was a quiet day, despite the way it started. And I had never been happier of the rest and relaxation. It gave me time to think about what my mother had said. I had been lonely when I grew up, the only friends I had ever had were two hideous gorillas that had been forced to be friends with me from having to come around to Malfoy Manor with their fathers. Gregory and Vincent had rapidly become Crabbe and Goyle, just like their fathers. It was easier than attempting to tell them apart. They were only cousins but were almost carbon copies. It was difficult to tell them apart, unless of course you'd grown up with them as I had. Crabbe had darker eyes than Goyle, just a shade or two darker and that was the only way I could tell them apart. I did better than most people did. I had never really had many friends.

The only pet I'd ever had was Sal, my pet Fire Salamander. Salazar had been named for me by my father. It had always been known that I would be a Slytherin. Sal was a beautiful black male Fire Salamander. His spots were of the darkest orange-red and he was 17cm long, nine centimetres of which was his tail. He used to sit on my shoulder when I was a little boy. But then when he was four years old he died. That was the summer before I went to Hogwarts. I had never quite got over it.

I went to bed early that night, the days excitement and the tears had left me both physically and emotionally drained.

_The room was dark and I felt like I was alone until a soft noise from the direction of the floor told me otherwise. I looked down and saw the top of a dark head. It was at that moment that I realised that I was completely and utterly naked. So it was _that_ type of dream. I could cope with that. I smiled and ran my fingers through the hair of the person kneeling in front of me. I whispered soft words of encouragement as I realised what they were supposed to be doing while they were down there. I shuddered slightly as their hands gently touched my penis, and then watched as they leaned forward, lightly brushing their tongue over me. I moaned softly and shuddered again. They shifted and started to lift their head. I looked down, ready to offer more encouragement. I looked down and saw the face of…_

"POTTER!" I sat bolt upright in my bed and breathed heavily. Potter? Harry-fucking-Potter? I shook my head, not believing what I had seen and sighed. I had never had bad eyesight. I must be right. It had to be Harry-fucking-Potter. Harry-excuse-me-while-I-save-the-world-Potter. What the hell was I doing dreaming about Harry Potter? Especially in that sort of situation. I rolled over onto my front to contemplate falling back to sleep and then rolled back on to my back as they became rapidly too painful. I stared down the covers at a rather inappropriate bulge. "It just gets better and better. Not only did I dream about Potter…I _enjoyed_ dreaming Potter." I groaned and leapt out of bed, crumpling to the floor as my feet hit the ground faster than I had expected. I stood up rapidly and walked to the en suite bathroom. It appeared that a cold shower was in order.

I stepped under the ice cold spray and felt the water sluice over my chest and my penis noticeably begin to shrink. I rolled my eyes as I remembered how vivid the dream had been. It had been like Potter had really been there with me, touching me, tasting me…I groaned as I placed my hands on the tiled wall in front of me. Thinking seemed to have become a destructive and dangerous past time. I closed my eyes and raised my face to the spray, feeling the ice cold water pour over my hair and down my back. I soaped myself up quickly, attempting to scrub off all remnants of the dream and then turned the water off as the bubbles slid down my skin to pool on the floor at my feet. I stepped out of the shower and towelled myself dry quickly, as the water had left goose-bumps over my skin. I was obviously going ever so slightly mad. I was obviously going completely insane. I walked into my bedroom and looked at the clock. Half past six. I might as well get ready. I wouldn't be getting any more sleep that morning.

I walked to my wardrobe and opened it calmly. Today I was going shopping for my school supplies in Diagon Alley. I looked through the robes. Black, black with silver, black with white, black with red, black with green, black with gold…I like black ok? I picked out a plain black set of robes and a pair of loose black cotton trousers to wear underneath. I pulled the robes quickly over my head, closing the door to the wardrobe quickly and checked my appearance in the mirror. I looked in the mirror at my reflection and began to smile. The smile turned to hysterical cackling as I nearly wept with the effort of being quiet. I didn't want everybody knowing I was already awake. I didn't need the inquisition that would surely follow.

"What a fool! I've put my bloody robes on backwards. I really must be going insane." I laughed quietly again and turned them round easily. I dried my hair quickly, coming it through so that it settled properly. It had grown quite a lot over the summer but I sort of liked it. It was shoulder length and still neat, curling around the nape of my neck softly. I walked back to my bedside table, putting my wand in my pocket. I knew magic wasn't allowed outside of school but father had put up wards. Not particularly strong wards, but strong enough that magical signatures were blocked so that anyone performing magic inside the wards could do so safely, without any worry about retribution. It made it easier for me, that was for certain. I looked around the room and walked to my jewellery box. I don't have much jewellery, just a few family heirlooms.

I lifted the lid and pulled out a fine silver chain. At the bottom of the chain sat my favourite pendant: a silver dragon with its wings spread, its tail coiled around an emerald, its head pointing up towards my chin. It was incredible. But it shouldn't have been mine. The chain was too fine to be meant for a man. Too fine even to be meant for a young boy. The chain, and therefore the pendant, had been meant for a Malfoy daughter. Lyra. She should have been wearing the pendant. Not me. But right now, I wouldn't give it up for anyone.

I left my room quietly, walking downstairs and instantly being set upon by three house elves.

"Good morning Master Draco. Was it breakfast you'd be wanting?" Frinky, who seemed to have appointed himself as the head of the house elves smiled at me. He, out of all of them, was the most bearable.

"Yes please. Just something small, thank you. I'm going out today to get my things for school."

"But Master Draco, your mother has ordered your books as usual and they should be here tomorrow."

"Oh, I know. I just have some extra things I want to buy. Don't worry, mother knows I'm going out."

"Well, if the mistress knows then we shall be going to get your breakfast Master Draco. It won't be a moment Sir." I shook my head bemusedly as the three elves apparated back to the kitchens. It had never stopped amusing me when the house elves called me 'Sir'. Of course, my mother didn't really know that I was going out. She didn't even know that I had things I wanted to buy. But I did and hell and my mother be damned I was going to buy everything I wanted.

I ate a quick breakfast of pancakes and then took the Floo system to the Three Broomsticks. It made life easier. That was until I stepped into Diagon Alley and someone walked straight into me. I scowled, ready to give the person an earful. The words caught in my throat as myself and the perpetrator made eye contact. My grey eyes clashed with bright sparkling green. Fate, it seemed, was still playing games with me.

Today, of all days, Harry Potter was in Diagon Alley.


	5. Chapter 5

"Watch it Potter." _Ooh scathing remark there. Ten points to Slytherin. NOT!_

"I think perhaps, you should be the one watching where you're going Malfoy. You walked into me. Not the other way around." Potter turned to walk away and then stopped. "What are you doing here anyway? Don't you have _servants_ to get your things for you?" The way he said it made me feel dirty. The fact that I did have servants meant nothing.

"There are some things that I don't want my servants getting for me." _Oh damn! Now that made me sound really dirty!_ Potter raised an eyebrow and then smirked.

"Indeed? Such as?" Now, believe me when I say I don't blush. I never have, and I hopefully never will. But the way he made that comment made me feel like blushing. It also made me feel like I was in the wrong. It wasn't a feeling I liked.

"Such as things that are none of your business Potter. Now move." I didn't wait for him to take my advice and pushed passed him hard so that I could get away. I knew where I was heading.

As soon as I got into Gringotts I headed to the Malfoy family vault and entered quickly. We had plenty of money in there that day so I knew none of it would be missed if I was to permanently borrow some. I didn't know how much I would need but it didn't bother me. I pulled out my draw-string…ahem…purse and filled it with Galleons. Yes, ok, I had a purse. Only because my mother had bought it for me. I don't know how much I put in my purse but I was sure it would be enough. As I left Gringotts I found myself looking around for Potter, just to check that he wasn't going to run into me _again_. At least that's what I tried to tell myself. I don't think I believed me.

At the end of Diagon Alley, between two buildings, there is a small alleyway which leads directly to Vertica Alley. Vertica Alley is a more exclusive area where some of the best wizards shop for things other than wands and robes can be found. Although, of course, it was possible to get the traditional boring things, in a more expensive and stylish setting. This was where I found myself looking into the jewellery and wedding shops. I never wore jewellery to school. Mainly because the only jewellery I had ever worn had had girls cooing all over it and that was something that made me feel physically sick. Things that sparkled were bound to draw the interest of many witches, especially the younger ones who knew no better. Unfortunately, being a Malfoy didn't help.

There was to be a ball at Hogwarts at Halloween and I had decided to shock people. I was not going to be wearing black at Halloween. The truth was, _everyone_ would be wearing black. It was a tradition. So I wasn't going to be a sheep. Malfoys create traditions, they don't follow them. Saying that, I wasn't sure what I was going to be wearing, but I was going to be wearing something spectacular. A Malfoy always does. I was staring in the windows of one of the wedding shops when I remembered a little shop at the end of Vertica Alley that was perfect for robes. Mistress Malandra was very exclusive. And so, she was bound to be perfect.

The bell above the door tinkled happily and I rolled my eyes. Every bloody shop has to have a bloody bell. It drives me nuts.

"Ah! The young Master Malfoy. A new set of dress robes by any chance?" A disembodied voice sounded in the corner room and I would have jumped had I not been expecting it. Malandra was an old friend of the family. Every time anyone from the family had needed dress robes she had been the one to provide them for us. She walked out of the shadows, her silver hair pulled in a tight bun behind her head and her pinched face attempting a smile that would have worked on anyone else, but not on Malandra.

"Yes please Malandra." I smiled at her, a genuine smile. Yes, we Malfoys do know how to smile.

"You're too tall boy. Too tall by a long shot. Well, come here and strip and then I'll measure you." A small part of me has always been convinced that Malandra is a little bit of a pervert. I'm sure she doesn't _need_ me to undress before she measures me. I'm also sure she doesn't need to measure quite that far up my inside leg. But, she's a good robe maker. So I let her get on with it.

As always she was quick, lingering only long enough to tell me I had gotten good and strong and then whisked away in a cloud of some cheap cloying perfume. I redressed and started out towards the front of the shop again. The bell tinkled and I rolled my eyes again.

"Carina Bael as I live and breathe! It must have been years since I saw you last. What brings you back to England?" Malandra was a terrible gossip. Most people are eavesdroppers. I, however, was just a good listener. I stood in the shadows and attempted to fade into the background.

"Malandra. You're still working? You do surprise me. I'm back here as a teacher. I'll be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts." _Ooooh! The conversation was about to get interesting._

I moved further into the room in order to see the new professor and was astounded by what I saw. Most of the professors I have known, you must understand, are at least fifty. Except Madam Hooch but she doesn't really count. Even she is forty. But Professor Bael was unlike any professor I had seen before. She couldn't have been a day over twenty five. Her hair was long and a proper golden blonde and was obviously real and not dyed at all. She was fairly thin but not in an unattractive way and she was tall, probably about five foot nine, maybe five foot ten. Most teenage boys would have developed a crush there and then but there was absolutely no appeal for me. I could tell she was attractive, more attractive even than Fleur Delacour had been, although it was obvious to me that she was not part Veela, and yet there was nothing. She was just an attractive woman. I frowned to myself and stepped into the light.

"Oh Master Malfoy, there you are! Been eavesdropping have we?" Malandra smiled at me and raised an eyebrow.

"No Mistress Malandra. Not at all." I smiled wryly back at her as she wiggled her eyebrows at me.

"Carina…I mean, Professor Bael, this is Master Draco Malfoy. He'll be one of your sixth year students."

"Pleased to meet you Master Malfoy." She smiled at me and then turned back to Malandra. "Are my robes ready yet? I had a message sent by owl with my measurements on and the items I would be requiring." She had ignored a Malfoy…obviously she really hadn't been in the country for a very, very long time. Otherwise she would know that ignoring a Malfoy was a stupid thing to do. I opened my mouth to complain at her treatment of me but found myself saying something entirely different.

"Mistress Malandra, would it be possible for you to make my robes by Halloween? I'm interested in moving away from my usual black so see what you can come up with ok?" I smiled at her, nodded at the Professor and walked out of the shop.

I decided to take the Floo back home as soon as possible. Something very odd was going on. I had never been so polite to anyone before unless I was afraid of them. And I wasn't afraid of Professor Bael.

_You should be Master Draco Malfoy. You should be very afraid._ A voice echoed in my head but rather than it being my own I recognised something extraordinary. The voice had belonged to Professor Bael.

Who was she? And why should I be afraid of her?


	6. Chapter 6

As expected all hell broke loose when I got home. Mother had found that I was missing and begun to worry as all parents will do. The house elves had tried to placate her but she was running around like a bear with a sore head, shouting at the top of her lungs. I shook my head and left the parlour where I had appeared in the fire place and walked into the entrance hall of the manor. I looked around, hoping that I'd have time to at least make it half-way up the stairs to my room before…

"DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING? YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE. NOW STAND STILL. TURN AROUND. LOOK AT ME! I SAID LOOK AT ME!"

I did as mother had asked, raising my eyes from the floor to clash with hers, expecting to see anger. That was until I saw the tears streaking her face. My mother had been crying. I was ready to ask questions and then she started to talk to me.

"Have you any idea how worried I was about you? Your father disappeared one night and didn't come back for weeks. When he came back, he had gotten the Dark Mark. Do you know how I felt the night he left? Like my heart and soul had left with him. I was so scared Draco. I was scared that I had lost him forever. It was worse when I realised you had gone this morning. I don't know where you've been, and frankly I don't care. But please Draco, don't scare me like that again. Leave me a note next time. Wake me up if you have to. I know I'm not a morning person but I can't bear another day like today. Just don't leave me alone again." She looked at me and lowered her head, tears glistening in her eyes. I saw her shoulders start to shake and saw one tear drip silently, unheeded, to the floor. Mother wasn't angry. She was scared. I walked towards her and gathered her into a hug.

"Don't cry Mummy. I'm ok. I'm safe. I just wanted to go into London. I'm sorry if I scared you Mummy. I won't do it again. I promise." Her tears made a wet patch on my shoulder but I didn't care. My Mummy was sad and I couldn't make her happy again.

Mother had been a wreck the night that father had been arrested. She still had days where she was depressed. I should have thought about that before I left. I should have thought about what I was doing. I shouldn't have been so stubborn. I'm the man of the house now. I should have looked after my mother. But I hadn't. I had decided to do things my way. It turns out it was the wrong way. I vowed to spend the rest of the day talking to my mother and spending some real time with her like I had when I was a little boy.

_I sat in the field alone. I looked up at the sky and smiled at the stars. I loved stargazing so I started to look for my favourite constellations: Orion, Sirius, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor and, of course, Draco. Mother taught me the constellations when I was very little. I heard a noise behind me and felt someone's hands slide round my waist. I leant back and put my head on their shoulder, closing my eyes briefly before looking upwards at the stars._

"_I didn't know if you were going to come." I smiled to myself as the person behind me kissed my neck lightly instead of answering. I shivered slightly as their tongue tip touched my skin and then made another attempt at a conversation. "The stars are so beautiful tonight." I felt the words spoken against my neck._

"_Not as beautiful as you." I groaned softly as they started to stroke my neck with their lips, touching the sensitive skin behind my ear with their tongue. I turned, closing my eyes as I did so and started to kiss their lips softly, stroking my tongue over their lips and smiling as they allowed me access. They tasted of a mixture of butterbeer and mint, as if they had been chewing gum before they had had a drink. I moaned as they lay backwards so that I was lying on top of them, completely covering their body with mine. Whoever it was was a really good kisser. I moved slightly so that I could be more comfortable and that's when something started poking me in the leg. I thought at first that it might be a wand but then realised that it was much to thick to be a wand. I pulled away hurriedly and stared into a pair of green eyes…green eyes…green eyes…_

"Green eyes!" I sat upright in bed again. Not again. Not another sodding dream about sodding Harry Potter. I closed my eyes briefly and realised that the image of Potter lying beneath me was apparently burned on my eyelids. I should have found it repulsive. But lower parts of my anatomy told me I didn't find it repulsive. I groaned as I realised that the dream had left me with a blue ribbon hard-on. I closed my eyes again and was relieved to find that the image had gone. I consider falling asleep but decided that something had to be done about my erection. There appeared to be two options. Either I had a cold shower, waking myself up in the process, or I performed a solo act and allowed myself to enjoy myself. My mind seemed to be arguing with itself.

_A cold shower is all it takes._

_**Yeah, but do you really want to be awake now?**_

_If you're suggesting that I use a different method of relieving the problem…_

_**Well, yeah why not?**_

_Because it's Potter that's why not!_

_**Did I actually say that you had to jack off to images of Potter?**_

_No…but…but…but…_

_**Potter…Potter…Potter!**_

_He does have a cute butt…no what am I saying?_

_**Malfoy loves Potter, Malfoy loves Potter!**_

_I do not!_

_**Do too!**_

_Do not do not do not!_

_**Do too do too do too!**_

_Oh shut up!_

_**Make me!**_

_But it's _Potter_ I can't fancy him._

_**Says who?**_

_Me. I say so. I can't. He's a guy for starters._

_**I know I said I'd never bring this up…**_

_Don't you dare!_

_**But…**_

_No! Not listening! Lalalalala!_

_**Blaise Zabini is a guy!**_

_You promised you would never bring it up!_

_**I lied.**_

_I was drunk. I didn't know what I was doing._

_**Neither did he. But if you were sober and it was with someone like Harry…**_

_No! It's never going to happen._

_**Was that a pout?**_

_What?_

_**Did you just pout?**_

_No! I absolutely did not!_

_**Oh yes you did!**_

_Did not!_

_**Did too!**_

_Did not!_

_**We're not getting into this again! The fact is, Master Malfoy, you pouted because you are never going to be with someone like Harry.**_

_Shut up._

_**Make me.**_

I made both parts of my subconscious stop their bickering as I kicked off the duvet and got out of bed. I felt the cool air coming from my window hit my naked body and remembered that I hadn't bothered to sleep in boxers that night. It seemed ironic really that after last night's fiasco I hadn't bothered with boxers.

Maybe I had pouted, just a little bit. But it was a subconscious thing and therefore couldn't be considered my fault. I stared into my mirror and spoke aloud.

"I absolutely do not fancy Harry Potter!" I scowled at my reflection and turned back to the bed.

"Whatever you say Draco." My own voice came back to me from the reflection and I silently cursed my father for putting a Cognito Veritas spell on the glass. The spell was an interesting form of the Verita Serum. It meant that whoever said anything while staring directly into the mirror would end up having the true thoughts spoken back at them. It had been used to find out if I was responsible for many different crimes, most of which were my fault. Sometimes I had tried not to look into the mirror. But father had methods of persuasion more subtle than the Cruciatus curse. He didn't need to use magic to force me to do things. Muggle methods of torture and punishment worked perfectly well. According to my father, it was the only thing Muggles had ever got right. I grimaced as I walked back to the bed, sighing softly.

My subconscious blew a raspberry at itself as I lay back on the bed and began stroking my erection, cursing as the only images I could conjure up were of Harry Potter.


End file.
